Comments on: Q&A with Diane Benscoter: Joining, leaving and ultimately defeating the culthttp://blog.ted.com/qa_with_diane_b/
The TED Blog shares interesting news about TED, TED Talks video, the TED Prize and more.Thu, 08 Dec 2016 12:52:08 +0000hourly1http://wordpress.com/By: Jean Walkerhttp://blog.ted.com/qa_with_diane_b/comment-page-2/#comment-117446
Thu, 10 Sep 2015 04:35:59 +0000http://blog-staging.ted.com/2009/06/qa_with_diane_b/#comment-117446However after you slather on the sun block, be sure that to guard your eyes too. Slip on a good pair of sun shades and you’ll be able to hit the sand. Que Du Bon à Table
]]>By: bgauphttp://blog.ted.com/qa_with_diane_b/comment-page-2/#comment-67107
Wed, 13 Aug 2014 03:33:05 +0000http://blog-staging.ted.com/2009/06/qa_with_diane_b/#comment-67107My wife was kidnapped in New Zealand by deprogrammers. She was held against her will for over ten days, but kept her faith. She is now writing a book about her experience. She’s a great public speaker and I am trying to get her onto Ted Talks for a different opinion.

]]>By: Religion: A Memetic Infection | Believers vs Non-Believershttp://blog.ted.com/qa_with_diane_b/comment-page-2/#comment-41972
Thu, 18 Jul 2013 03:05:39 +0000http://blog-staging.ted.com/2009/06/qa_with_diane_b/#comment-41972[…] We need to take these phenomena out of the realm of good and evil and into the realm of science. What we really need to do is understand what happens in the brain, and I challenge experts in the fields of neuroscience and psychiatry to do this — perhaps there is some way to identify the extremist brain. – Diane Benscoter […]
]]>By: The Trite Static Technique | Religion: A Memetic Infectionhttp://blog.ted.com/qa_with_diane_b/comment-page-2/#comment-41966
Thu, 18 Jul 2013 02:45:23 +0000http://blog-staging.ted.com/2009/06/qa_with_diane_b/#comment-41966[…] We need to take these phenomena out of the realm of good and evil and into the realm of science. What we really need to do is understand what happens in the brain, and I challenge experts in the fields of neuroscience and psychiatry to do this — perhaps there is some way to identify the extremist brain. – Diane Benscoter […]
]]>By: Laura Gracehttp://blog.ted.com/qa_with_diane_b/comment-page-2/#comment-24071
Sun, 25 Nov 2012 14:59:28 +0000http://blog-staging.ted.com/2009/06/qa_with_diane_b/#comment-24071Diane,

Thank you for your work and your boldness. You are on to something here about the Extremest brain and about the importance of critical reasoning.

Everyone else,

It doesn’t matter how peaceful or loving of a person you are or how nice of a group you belong to. Niceness and meanness are not what define extremism. There are lots of very pleasant extremists. No, I think it is more about the severity and depth of your belief and what you might do if you were asked. If the “loving leader” of a “peaceful” extremist group asked its lifetime members to commit violent crimes, many of them would. After 20 years of blind following, you will have a very limited, atrophied back-up system in your brain to tell you that the violence is not a good idea, and that somehow something has gone wrong in this organization that you trusted, and that you are NOT being influenced by Satan if you choose another path. Perhaps in a case such as this a percentage of lucky followers would have critical reasoning parts of their brain intact enough that, even after the years of indoctrination, they can still hear the words of their leader and interpret for themselves whether or not those words are truth, and they are the lucky ones.

Not all extremism ends in violence, but I do think that it all ends in a loss of original thought.

“It was 1989. The BCs used to gather every Sunday in Tarrytown. We loved being together. If Hyo Jin hyungnim was around we would follow him around and do whatever he wanted to do. He had a volatile temper and was often abusive but we were told that it was because we didn’t understand his and God’s heart. He was teaching us God’s heart. One day he had us lined up and he started raving and ranting waving his gun. One day he had us lined up and he started raving and ranting waving his gun. Suddenly he stopped. We had our heads bowed but I looked up. He had his gun pointed at Jin Seung Eu’s head and pulled the trigger. The bullet went into the wall behind Jin Seung Eu, 2 inches from his head.
”
Sounds like a religion with potential dangerous fanatacism from the founders children.

]]>By: Janette Haugenhttp://blog.ted.com/qa_with_diane_b/#comment-18071
Sat, 15 Sep 2012 22:07:17 +0000http://blog-staging.ted.com/2009/06/qa_with_diane_b/#comment-18071I think what some of you are missing is the “bigger picture” here. Diane was simply showing how easily she got caught up in the Moonies and brainwashed into believing she was a “chosen one”. It’s the same mind control techniques used on the Hitler Youth, Jonestown members and other extreme groups in history. This is “cookie cutter” brain washing / mind control techniques used on hundreds of thousands of people Right Now. It is a growing problem and I for one would love to hear TED feature more videos about this!
]]>By: John Goldenhttp://blog.ted.com/qa_with_diane_b/#comment-17940
Thu, 13 Sep 2012 02:31:39 +0000http://blog-staging.ted.com/2009/06/qa_with_diane_b/#comment-17940Stumbled on this by chance. I’m a big fan of TED but this one makes me realized I’ve been brainwashed. I think I’ve only been looking at the best talks. How this one got through the screening I don’t know.

Any idiot can see that terrorist groups, Hitler Youth and the rest are one thing and that small religious cults are simply one-offs that die with their founder or are future established religions in the making. If you pick on the Moonies, you have to man up and explain the Christianity and Islam were once the same – if not worse. the idea that Moon is the messiah is no more preposterous than the idea that Jesus is the messiah. Why can’t people get this? As I understand, the Moonies believe that religions should unify, that countries lay down their arms and the world should unify, and that this process begins with the individual improving themselves. Not for most, but hardly Jonestown. Seems like a late 20th century version of the Bahai’s to me.

This woman was a deprogrammer. She didn’t say what sentence she got, just that she decided depropgramming was not for her. Until the law got to them, these villains were worse than the cults – driven by conviction and presumably large sums of cash, they were the ones who kidnapped, incarcerated and manipulated people’s minds.

I’m so disappointed. I think I need TED exit counseling. Is there a similar thing to TED out there? Another speechifying cult I can join?

]]>By: Tigo Schaufflerhttp://blog.ted.com/qa_with_diane_b/#comment-13645
Sat, 05 May 2012 16:35:39 +0000http://blog-staging.ted.com/2009/06/qa_with_diane_b/#comment-13645response below
]]>By: Tigo Schaufflerhttp://blog.ted.com/qa_with_diane_b/#comment-13640
Sat, 05 May 2012 08:17:52 +0000http://blog-staging.ted.com/2009/06/qa_with_diane_b/#comment-13640I have stumbled upon this post recently although it was posted a few years back. I am another person born and raised in the Unification church. I do not think if you analyzed her brain that you would find it looked any different than any others. That seemed to me like she was throwing out a scientific answer with no backup whatsoever. On the other hand, looking at the mentality she speaks about gets more to the problem. The point that I took from it is the theory that continually mentally telling yourself that “We have the right answers and they have the wrong ones” can end up with disturbing consequences. One can see this in a lot of politics and religion where the disturbed leader’s mentality is perpetuated by his followers. That is why everyone should truly think for themselves and not categorize themselves. Do we have to be a democrat or republican or Jewish, Muslim or Christian (or a Moonie for that matter) or country, goth, hipster, hippie or jock. I have no problems with people that would categorize themselves, as I see that is how society works, but an alternative that makes sense to me is to understand all categories and decide what is right and wrong on a very narrow basis rather than answering all questions with one answer.
In regards to Norbert’s post. He was a man that was involved in “workshops” while I was growing up. I knew him. He is not a bad man because he is Unificationist (proper term) and for any other reason. That being said I disagree with his reaction to Diane. To compare a Unification blessing, Hitler youth and suicide bombers is entirely extreme on its own merits. As she states extremism is the problem here. She does nothing for her argument by portraying it this way. She is essentially using deprogramming techniques on TED viewers, which in itself is extreme as I believe Monica was stating. None the less, within a social group structure based on the answer to all questions being “he has the answer”, it may lead to Jonestown or holocausts as both Hitler and Jim Jones essentially had “the answer”. The Unification movement is not that extreme and I beg that it does not become so, but the philosophical foundation of the movement is entirely the same.
Norbert also speaks of “FACTS and LOGIC” being absent in what Diane speaks of. I would ask Norbert this and any other Unificationist. Are there facts and logic that Rev. Moon is the messiah and that what he says is the one and only truth? I can see the dissatisfaction creep in to your train of thought the minute she proposes her opposing theory because the foundation of what you believe has trained you to have one answer. “You are wrong and I am right”.
]]>By: Tigo Schaufflerhttp://blog.ted.com/qa_with_diane_b/#comment-13639
Sat, 05 May 2012 07:25:54 +0000http://blog-staging.ted.com/2009/06/qa_with_diane_b/#comment-13639The poster did not state that excultists are closed minded “out” as “in”. She stated that excultists SOMETIMES turn around and do the same thing with there post cult explorations. What she is suggesting is Diane has one answer to all questions (memes). That is the same thing as Rev. Moon would have you believe. He has all the answers, do as he says (I am the messiah).
]]>By: Micheal Saviourhttp://blog.ted.com/qa_with_diane_b/#comment-10197
Sun, 04 Dec 2011 16:04:44 +0000http://blog-staging.ted.com/2009/06/qa_with_diane_b/#comment-10197It’s funny how you see it fit it to reduce to entire article on historical inaccuracies and incorrect labeling.
Of all the slurs and pejorative terms that religions themselves come out with, don’t get worked up on one that’s been made up for the movement that is supposed to react peacefully as it’s pacifist principles.

To answer your last question about whether or not we refer to Evangelical Republicans as Jingoes, my opinion is that we should.

I’m trying to offer some explanations for the manipulative tendencies used by cults and about what happens to one’s brain during the experience.

I believe it’s all dependent on the molecule ‘Oxytocin’ in our brains which is responsible for increasing trust, empathy, generosity, and even ethnocentrism ( the feeling of ‘Us’ and ‘Them’).

I really feel that understanding the effects Oxytocin has on the brain, and the techniques used by manipulative people to spike it in normal people will go a long way in understanding what really happens to victims of cults.

I also draw a link between ‘viral memes’, imitation and ‘mirror neurons’ in our brains, empathy and Oxytocin.

I also believe that deprogramming may become a matter of temporarily inhibiting the Oxytocin receptors (using drugs like Atosiban or hormones like progesterone) and letting members continue to attend ceremonies (to let them see the foolishness of their ways without the effects of Oxytocin flooding their judgement) and then maybe psychotherapy attacking the beliefs that have entered the long term memory.

I am not a neuro-scientist so that exact technical terminology may falter in places, but you might be able to see how the overall picture falls uncannily into place.

]]>By: Ken Stuczynskihttp://blog.ted.com/qa_with_diane_b/#comment-8365
Fri, 08 Jul 2011 20:33:02 +0000http://blog-staging.ted.com/2009/06/qa_with_diane_b/#comment-8365No, the comparison is apt. It was not meant to be a comparison of degree of violence or scope of impact, but the conditions by which much worse things CAN and DO happen. these groups are capable of making their followers do ANYTHING. The fact they do not kill people (physically) is moot and irrelevant.
]]>By: Cher Anne Valentinohttp://blog.ted.com/qa_with_diane_b/#comment-4742
Wed, 29 Dec 2010 20:13:25 +0000http://blog-staging.ted.com/2009/06/qa_with_diane_b/#comment-4742Thank you for sharing Diane.
]]>By: Jaedon Aveyhttp://blog.ted.com/qa_with_diane_b/#comment-2008
Tue, 30 Nov 1999 00:00:00 +0000http://blog-staging.ted.com/2009/06/qa_with_diane_b/#comment-2008I appreciate the courage it takes to share an intimate and personal narrative of this kind. I have three thoughts for Diane, the TED organization, and other readers.

1) Diane, your comparison of the Unification Movement to Hitler Youth and suicide bombers is false. The Unification Movement promotes peace and nonviolence. To my knowledge no suicide bombings have ever been claimed by the Unification Movement. You yourself became involved in the organization during a peace march.

2) You are generalizing the Unification Movement (still active today) based on out-dated information. The zeitgeist of the time of your experience was of revolution which only served to demonstrated extremes of many organizations.

3) Please stop using the word ‘Moonies.’ I strongly suggest that you change the title of this video/blog/message. It is a derogatory name, a religious slur, or at least a pejorative. We do not refer to Evangelical Republicans as Jingoes do we?

Thank you

]]>By: Dara Poznarhttp://blog.ted.com/qa_with_diane_b/#comment-2009
Tue, 30 Nov 1999 00:00:00 +0000http://blog-staging.ted.com/2009/06/qa_with_diane_b/#comment-2009Diane- thank you for speaking about about this! My mother and siblings belong to a religion that is often called a Cult… having been baptized in as a teen and later chosing to disassociate myself, I am left with my closes family members mandated to shun me. It is very painful, but I decided on having my personal Freedom above anything else. It was a difficult and guilt ridden existence.

Again Thanks- Dara

]]>By: Alan Richardhttp://blog.ted.com/qa_with_diane_b/#comment-2010
Tue, 30 Nov 1999 00:00:00 +0000http://blog-staging.ted.com/2009/06/qa_with_diane_b/#comment-2010The viral/genetic metaphor bothers me, but this is much clearer than the talk itself. I too think that circular logic is at the core of dangerous movements and that critical thinking is important. I think that Hannah Arendt was right when she identified loneliness as the condition under which circular logic becomes attractive, and meaningful and extra-ideological social intimacy as insurance against absorption into a total thought system.
]]>By: Becky Cummingshttp://blog.ted.com/qa_with_diane_b/#comment-2011
Tue, 30 Nov 1999 00:00:00 +0000http://blog-staging.ted.com/2009/06/qa_with_diane_b/#comment-2011The Well Spring Retreat Center in Southern Ohio is a resource for anyone who has been involved in an abusive group or one on one relationship. They offer a two week in house program that saves lives. They provide a language and a system in which to understand and talk about how people get pulled into closed systems of thought. Visit:

]]>By: Norbert Szolnokyhttp://blog.ted.com/qa_with_diane_b/#comment-2012
Tue, 30 Nov 1999 00:00:00 +0000http://blog-staging.ted.com/2009/06/qa_with_diane_b/#comment-2012I am appalled that TED would actually invite her and present her ideas in such a fashion, then play along and magnify the idea that “Moonies” are a dangerous cult bent on killing and suicide bombing. There is a place for legitimate discussion about the effects (good and bad) religions and cults have on a person (note that suicide bombers are mainly religious and NOT cultists) but this talk doesn’t belong to that realm. This post is actually very mild compared to her presentation where she makes comparison (both direct and implied) of Moonies to Hitler Youth and suicide bombers – totally false, unproven, biased. Unificationists are very peaceful, loving people – I have been one for 19 years and I am doing fine, thank you.

If she discussed extremism and associated violence solely then it would be legit; mixing up extremist violence, cults, and Moonies in false associations is wrong and harmful. I am utterly disappointed in TED for not seeing the difference – where are your standards?